KAISER CHIEFS- OFF WITH THEIR HEADS

Down that Ronson-shaped rabbit hole is a creative dead-end for the Leeds mob


In interviews running up to the release of the Kaiser Chiefs album, producer wonderkid Mark Ronson was suggesting the forthcoming LP was “an eccentric record” and a real departure from what had come before.

A brave move indeed considering the success of the previous albums, debut Employment and winning follow up Yours Truly, Angry Mob producing hit single after hit single.

But sadly Mr Ronson is either a liar or completely deluded. Despite it’s great title, “Off With Their Heads” is a safe album that rather than pushing forward employs its reverse gear.

Lead single Never Miss A Beat was promising enough filled with witty lyrics that capture the zeitgeist (“What do you want for tea/ I want crisps”) paired with the sort of terrace chorus that the Chiefs do so well. It’s great fun, but its hardly the leap forward we were told to prepare for.

There are two other great songs on offer here, and they, along with Never Miss A Beat, come at the start of the album. You Want History’s use of synths get the heart pumping and is simply fantastic. Its end refrain of “If the girls start moving/The boys start moving/if the girls stop moving/the boys will stand still” will hopefully provide the album’s ubiquitous hit if released as a single.

Meanwhile, Like It Too Much is suggestive of the surge forward Ronson was talking about , by using the stirring 60s style strings of Bond producer David Arnold. With the lyric “You are decended from animals/and you are constructed of chemicals” putting the human race in its place, it’s the best track on offer here.

The rest of the album ranges wildly from forgettably average to absolute dirge. Opening track Spanish Metal is as stupid and tune-free as its title suggests. Half The Truth (with an embarrassing guest spot from rapper Sway) should be called Half-Hearted and drummer Nick Hodgson makes the mistake of taking the lead on closer Remember You’re A Girl.

Worst of the lot is Addicted To Drugs (“You might as well face it you’re addicted to drugs”- yes, that’s a Robert Palmer pun). Its chorus is toe-curling and its verses “cleverly” recycle Never Miss A Beat’s wit.

Talking of wit, the lyrics that hold it that were once a joy now just feel tired. They attempt to be meaningful on Tomato In The Rain, but the couplet “Like a beetle on its back/I’ve got to get back on track” will just produce a sorry sigh.

Comparing the Kaiser Chiefs to blur may be an old cliché, but it has to be done. If Yours Truly, Angry Mob was their Parklife, this is most definitely The Great Escape. However where blur went next was bold and exciting, so it’s clear a change is desperately needed. Sources suggest that this was originally meant as an EP. Maybe if they kept it like that things would be a bit sunnier.

2/5

PURE
(PS3/XBOX 360)

The racing videogame market is a crowded place which can be split exactly in half: those who swear by the likes of Sony’s Gran Tourismo behemoth for the realistic driving experience and the less experienced squad who just want to have fun.

Pure falls in that latter category. It’s published by, of all people, Disney and mixes the arcade feel of Project Gotham Racing with the button bashing trick system of the Tony Hawk games. It’s a winning combination that might not suit gamers out for the hardcore experience, but is still ridiculously enjoyable.

You start out by creating your ATV from scratch and are thrust straight into the action after a quick tutorial. From here it’s instantly playable. There are three sets of tricks to use, depending on the size of jumps you’ve been launched into. Successfully landing it adds to your boost bar, which in turn can be used or saved up to fire into a near-impossible special trick, for an instant refill.

It takes a couple of races to get into, but this simple system is hugely rewarding and will frequently bring a smile to your face. Races are unlocked fairly easily, which means you won’t find yourself getting stuck, but going back to get that elusive first place provides the challenge. The races are well paced as well, meaning you’ll never get too far behind.

As well as this the visuals are so impressive that you’ll find yourself gasping as you leap several hundred feet into the air with the world below you. Online multiplayer is equally entertaining, as up to 16 players jostle for position online. It provides a non-shooter party experience that this generation has needed.

Overall Pure will pass by hardcore gamers due to its simplicity, but if you want pure enjoyment, get it here.

DAN LE SAC VS SCOOBIUS PIP/ KID CARPET/ERZA
The Old Firestation, Bournemouth 29/10/2008

Rejoice! The future of hip hop is here!

It’s a freezing Wednesday evening and the rain has just arrived. Bournemouth needs warming up this evening, and The Old Firestation in its centre is certainly well named and placed to do so.

Dan Le Sac and Essex’s poet laurite Scroobius Pip have certainly made a name for themselves on the “scene”. British hip hop was certainly in need of innovation, with Dizzee Rascal being bizarrely hailed as its king, and boy have the pairing given it a kick up the arse.

But before that, we get support from two wildly different but equally creative and original acts.

Erza arrive onstage to an oddly hushed Firestation which is usually buzzing by this time. The lead rapper looks uncomfortable to start with as he looks across an unpopulated barrier as his student audience stand well back, but thankfully this doesn’t last for long as his sheer energy pull the crowd in, as he clears the stage and starts dancing with his growing crowd. The duo (completed by the obligatory white nerd on the computers and synths) are an incongruous but invited mash of Kanye West and Calvin Harris, while the rapper, with crew cut hair, bicycle chain bling and painfully tight white trousers is the male Grace Jones, with dangerously sexual thrusts added to heighten intensity.

By the end of their oh-too-short set, there’s quite a throng at the stage to greet Kid Carpet. Despite the terrible reviews his second album, Casio Royale, has met, live the one man band is a powerhouse, and it’s like nothing anyone’s ever seen before. Pulling his ancient Casio keyboard out of his trunk brings out a whiff of nostalgia in his young audience. What follows is a winning concoction of cheap synths, connectivity with a willing audience and genuinely amusing lyrics.

Kid Carpet ends by asking the swarm if they’re ready for tonight’s main attraction, and they most certainly are. Dan Le Sac wanders on, looking like a slightly lost, grubby roadie and pull his laptop out of his rucksack. No expense spared here then.

To bring on his poetic partner, Le Sac brilliantly melds his beats with the theme tune of Antique Roadshow, and the twosome launch into an energising rendition of The Beat That My Heart Skipped.

For the next 55 minutes they play the choicest cuts from their critically hailed debut album Angles, along with a pair of inspired covers (singalong version of The Specials’ Nite Klub and, bizarrely, Push The Button by the Sugababes). They range from a gut-punching Back From Hell with strobes blazing to the sensitive and well-handled Magician’s Assistant, a song about suicide, which brings the audience right down to reverent silence. Between songs the banter is well put together and connects with the audience without feeling forced.

They end on the hits. Thou Shalt Always Kill was their breakthrough into the mainstream, a rant of modern day commandments (sample lyric: “thou shalt not question Stephen Fry) to which most of the crowd know the words, whilst Radiohead-sampling Letter From God To Man bring procedures to a close.

Dan Le Sac and Scroobius Pip are right out in front because they have the bravery to do hip-hop in new ways. Unlike much of the modern day dross, they look at REAL issues affecting British kids in a frank way, be it self-harm, suicide or the constant search for perfection. This destruction of boundaries is held aloft by a wonderful live performance which will hopefully be broadened further by a second album.

What helps is a realisation, as put in Thou Shalt Always Kill, that “guns, bitches and bling aren’t part of the four elements, and never will be”.